When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, President Bush had to authorise the Air Force Reserve to load up modified C-130 transport planes with pesticides in order to prevent the spread of mosquitos and their related diseases.

Now a similar situation is occurring; only it’s planes loaded up with a fire retardant chemical and instead of a hurricane, it’s a huge oil slick stemming from the Deepwater Horizon drilling incident.

Popular Mechanics has a story on the contingency plan in place in case the oil spill gets out of control. The chemical being used is “the equivalent of liquid dishwashing detergent. It encompasses the oil molecules and breaks them down into particles the ocean can process naturally,” meaning no harm will be done by spraying the oil in the ocean.

In order for the bombardment of chemicals to happen, President Obama would have to give the go-ahead to proceed and the Air Force Reserve would need to work with the Coast Guard and Navy to ensure the execution is as smooth as possible. Until that happens, the government will continue to monitor the spill to see if the situation worsens.